$200M battle for WNBA expansion team signals league has entered a new era

The WNBA has never been more popular. Fans packed arenas this past season as rookie stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese became household names. TV viewership skyrocketed. And the league has primed itself for more with a media-rights deal that will pay out $200 million annually for 11 years.

It’s a dramatic turnaround for a league that struggled to bring in revenue during its first two decades. And the clearest sign that “the W” has turned a corner may be the avid interest in its next expansion team — in a city yet to be announced.

Around a dozen potential owners are vying for the franchise, which experts say could fetch up to $200 million. Among them are Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum.

“People see it as a great opportunity, and they’re clamoring for it because they feel like they can still get in early,” said Teresa Resch, president of the hotly anticipated WNBA team in Toronto, which will play its first game in 2026.

The league’s revenue doubled from $102 million to $200 million between 2019 to 2023. Attendance, even excluding the draw of Clark, grew 29 percent from 2023 to 2024 — nearly double the 16 percent growth from 2022 to 2023, said sports economist Frank Stephenson of Berry College in Georgia.




https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/11/30/wnba-expansion-womens-sports/